Plates and portion size as a factor determining food consumption in buffet service: a preliminary empirical study

الملخص EN

Food waste occurs at various levels of the food supply chain, from food production to food consumption.

These are such as cooking, errors, excessive trimmings and cuts, overproduction, incorrect food storage, incorrect portion control, unacceptable of menu by the client, the inefficiency of the type of service used.

Buffet service generally has more food waste.

The present experiment illustrates that the availability of smaller dishes, and bowls in the buffet, or small food portions presented to customers resulted in reducing food waste.

This was concluded by conducting two rounds of lunch buffet, arranged to feed 20 participants using different sizes of plates, bowls, food and drink portions in each round.

The use of small equipment and food portions reduced considerably the amount of food waste obtained.

Expressing these differences on money base would motivate the hotel to conduct the strategy of offering smaller portions when buffet service is used.